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PCs for the Masses

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DQI Bureau
New Update

With less than a PC for every 100 Indians in the country, we are not quite
geared up to face the digital revolution. A little more than half of the PCs
sold in the country last year went to just the top four metros. The situation is
further compounded by the fact that a large majority of Indians are illiterate.
And it is really ironical that this comes at a time when India is at the
forefront of the IT revolution and in the year when Forbes has put the Nasscom
president, Kiran Karnik as its face of the year, an Indian who epitomizes the
Indian IT industry. At the recent UN information summit, the Indian minister for
IT and communication Arun Shourie suggested a way to overcome the huge digital
divide that separates the country’s haves and have-nots. While stressing on
the critical role that PCs could play in educating the masses, he estimated that
a single PC could help educate as many as 300 to 400 Indians. He also suggested
that the import of discarded PCs could come as a huge step in bridging the gap.

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The underlying principle behind Shourie’s idea is that the computing
revolution must reach the masses, and that will happen only when the cost of PC
comes well within the average Indian’s reach. According to senior government
officials, the government is likely to consider the important recommendations as
proposed in the national computer hardware policy. The policy was drafted under
instruction by the PMO and suggests that the sales tax on all IT and electronic
hardware, including components, be 4% and that the special additional duty or
SAD levied on imports be phased out.

The policy also suggests that special incentives be given to companies that
are willing to set up manufacturing base for hardware in India. It also suggests
the drafting of plans to identify markets for export. Whether or not these
incentives and plans come through and the PC prices come down, the government’s
efforts in this direction are seen as too little too late. But we can safely say
that we have yet not missed the bus!

MOHIT CHABBRA in New Delhi

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